


A Ghoulish Scheme

by Momoisme



Series: A Ghoulish Scheme [1]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Does not deal with the events of Fallout 4, F/F, Original Character(s), Sort of a crossover between the Dawnguard questline and the Commonwealth, some cussing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-08-09 00:33:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7779958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Momoisme/pseuds/Momoisme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All Elayn has wanted in life are three simple things; avoid getting shot, don't mutate into some kind of half-breed monstrosity, and retire somewhere with lots to fight and no people. Getting involved with a bunch of ghouls trying to take over the Commonwealth with an army and helping the heir of the family try to stop them was not anywhere in those plans. Neither was her interest in her travelling companion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Right so for all my readers migrating from Silver and Gold, this is half good and half bad news. I couldn't keep up with that one unfortunately, because of a change in writing style and in my opinion, skill. But I started playing Fallout 4 and a friend of mine got me thinking on how lycanthropy would work in the FO universe and... 
> 
> Well, I love these characters, so here this is! Commentary is always appreciated.

Thick fur had no place in the swamps. Big teeth, sharp claws, those belonged anywhere, but thick fur was for cold and in the swamp, cold practically didn’t exist. The best you got was “less uncomfortable” and that only happened in the winter, when the sun was down, and when the rains had cleared the water from the air recently enough.

For Elayn, that either meant travelling by night, or sucking it up and dealing with the heat. And since travelling by night was at best asking for a raider bullet in the ass or ghouls gnawing on your legs when you went in the water, she had been better off learning to tolerate the heat rather than learn how to be immortal. Only, of course, when she had fur, because while human flesh was way more likely to tear and bleed, it lacked the layers of muscle and fur that usually kept her on the edge of heat stroke.

In the interest of staying alive, she tended to travel in human form, and with a group. Humans had an impressive herd/pack instinct that was easy to get involved in when she made herself indispensable. She tore through more enemies with her kukri than others did with their guns, and had an uncanny knack for finding livestock or humans who wandered away from the whole. It had taken her all of three minutes to notice, find, and scoop up the most recent attempted escapist, and now she was loping along the line of brahmin and people trying to keep a five year old from wriggling out of her arms.

His parents, a lovely couple by the name of Teegan and Lucca, we relieved. “Thank God you found him!” said the first, gratefully taking the kid back and waggling a finger in his face. “Tobias Lane, this is the third time you’ve run off. You’re going to get hurt!”

“I wanna go exploring!” the boy retorted, folding his lanky arms over his chest and sticking his tongue out in a pout. “Walking all day is boring. I wanna go play.”

Lucca, a tall man with dark skin and close-shaved hair, looked down sternly at the child in his husband’s arms. “Well that’s too bad. If you won’t stay in sight, then you’re going to stay where I can keep an eye on you. You’re riding Tauro until we reach Diamond City.”  
“But I don’t wanna! I hate that stupid brahmin!”

The boy’s protests were cut short by a warning look as Teegan deposited him in a spot where the cargo would serve as a makeshift seat. “None of that. You heard your papa. Now what do you say to Miss Elayn for finding you before a deathclaw did?”

Tobias-- or Toby when he wasn’t in trouble-- at least knew when to quit pushing. He ducked his head and mumbled, “Thank you Miss ‘Layn,” into his shirt.

Both fathers breathed a sigh of relief and shared a wry glance. “Thank you for finding him again,” said Teegan, looking to Elayn. “It’s a miracle you’re here or we would have lost him and a few others.”

“Eyes like a hawk.” Lucca was a miser with words to anyone not his husband or son. “Kind of uncanny.”  
Elayn’s neck itched under the scrutiny but she gave no sign of her nerves. Instead she offered a lazy grin. “Folks here keep me fed, and Toby’s a sweet kid. It’s the least I could do.”  
Laughter bursting from Teegan drew Lucca’s gaze away from her, his eyebrow raised in confused amusement. “Given how you wolf down meals, I guess it’s a good thing you’re so damn useful!”

Now _that_ was an animal she would prefer not being linked to her, even as a turn-of-phrase. She hoped her laugh wasn’t as nervous as she felt. “Hey what can I say? I do a lot of running and walking. A girl’s gotta eat.”

“I’ll buy you a steak when we reach the city,” Teegan promised, then added with a sly grin, “Maybe even a whiskey. We could all use a drink after this journey.”  
“I’ll take you up on the food, but honestly I don’t drink much.” True honesty would have been admitting that she could drink them both under the table and walk away without swaying once, but _that_ wouldn’t be at _all_ suspicious; no sirree.

Whatever reply the man might have had was lost when one of the guards taking point at the head of the caravan yelled something. Elayn went into fight mode immediately, but as the call was picked up and passed down the line, her hand moved away from her machete.

The Jewel of the Commonwealth was dead ahead.

\---------------------

Getting into the city wasn’t near as easy as it should have been. First, the ruins of the pre-nuke city were by no means clear enough for carts and brahmin to get through without trouble. A good deal of effort went into pushing the two over fallen debris and broken cars. Then there were the hulking super mutants and jet-crazed raiders trying to get at their supplies. Finally, the guards, who refused to let them in at first. Admittedly the screaming, panicked crowd at the gates did make it sound like there was a horde of deathclaws behind them, but Elayn had no patience for it. Holding back the change while soaked in irradiated blood and worse and having to fight in a form that was no good for it by comparison was seriously testing her patience. By the time they were let in and she found a quiet place to collect herself, her body felt like it would fly apart any second. She slid down the brick wall behind her and landed in a hunched-over crouch.

“You look like you need a shower. And a nap.”

The voice from the alleyway ahead brought her eyes up, teeth bared in an instinctive snarl. A woman had managed to approach without her noticing and golden eyes glowed from shadows that fell across her face. Something must have been funny, because a grin now revealed teeth that glinted red in the neon light. Elayn barely suppressed a low, rumbling growl, but watched her warily all the same.

“How friendly. You didn’t seem like a drug addict but now I’m having second thoughts.” The woman stepped forward out of the darkness, but still kept her distance.

Elayn’s nostrils flared, searching for the danger her instincts screamed was there. She caught the scent of blood and radiation off of herself, but there was something else too that she couldn’t place. The longer she stared without speaking, it got clear enough to recognize. Fear. She was scaring her.

That gave her something to focus on; a reason to calm down _now._ She would be damned before she let anyone see her as a monster. Standing wouldn’t help before she could tell she had half a head on the stranger, so instead she slouched into a less tense stance and dropped her gaze to the concrete ground.

“Just exhausted,” she offered. Weariness and the strain of having to shout commands to the other guards during the hour-long fight and march made her voice gravelly. “It took  a lot to get here.”  
The smell of fear faded as the woman leaned her hip against a wall, looking intrigued. “You were with the caravan? I heard a few people mention you in the marketplace.”  
A chuckle rolled through her chest. “Oh good, I made an impression saving their asses. Anything complimentary?”  
“A few of them seemed like they were a step from deifying you. Calling you a god,” she explained when the unfamiliar word got her a confused look in return. She grinned, but it wasn’t smug or patronizing. “Got a name, hero?”

“Elayn.” She offered as much of a smile as she could manage; better now that she was calmer, even if she was still very tired. “Do you usually pester strangers soaked in blood or am I just special, miss?”

Rather than offending her, the comment got a laugh. “My name is Serana. I’m looking for help getting somewhere pretty dangerous, and when I heard about you laying waste to a group of super mutants with a blade, I thought you might be just the person to watch my back.”  
“As pretty as you are? Gosh what a hardship.” The blush on Serana’s face made her smirk; happy to have gained some higher ground even if she looked like a wreck.

“The gate at dusk tomorrow, then?” There was a surprisingly genuine glimmer of conern in those gold eyes. “I need to get moving as soon as possible, but you look like you might need to sleep for a week at least.”

As much as that idea appealed, she hadn’t ever been one for laying around, especially in cities. “A night in a real bed, some food, and clean clothes will be enough,” she assured. “I’ll be there.”

Elayn rose slowly, waving away the proffered hand. “How about we shake on it after I clean up?” she half-joked.

“See you then, hero,” Serana said, walking away. She paused long enough to say one last thing over her shoulder before she turned the corner.

“I think we’re going to have fun together.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so... I wasn't a big fan of the Dawnguard in Skyrim, even though I get where they're coming from, but damn it not ALL vampires are complete assholes. Case in point, Serana. Also I didn't like Isran being as paranoid as he was. Given that rather than vampires, they're ghouls in this fic, I didn't like the idea of getting someone dedicated to hunting down that group of people to extinction. Elayn wouldn't go for that, because she's a decent human being! So instead y'all are going to be getting to see another group later on with, you know, morals. 
> 
> Which brings us to my point; canon divergence! Obviously it has diverged so far, but I'll explain as I write why the hell Serana was in Diamond City instead of locked up and all that. Have a little faith and things will become clear, I promise. 'Til then, enjoy the new chapter. Next one will be up soonish.

The shower was Elayn’s first priority, along with a Radaway drip. As the radiation drained out of her bones, so did the tremor in her muscles-- along the abnormal strength that came with what most people would consider radiation poisoning. It struck her as a vicious irony that it was only when she traveled with humans that she got exposed to enough rads to be at her best, and that her best was a form that would get her shot by just about any human. She hoped there wouldn’t be too much fighting on this little trip she had been recruited for. Getting someone she was escorting killed because the alternative was death by who she was escorting would be a bit of a damper on her lifespan.

Serana’s last words in the alley echoed in her head more than she would have liked while she tried to sleep. Not her fault; the glint in those golden eyes had been unnerving. Not the color itself of course because her own were silver and judging that would be hypocritical. Just the knowing look coupled with amusement over a joke she hadn’t shared was creepy. She had been friendly enough, no doubt about that, but a kind smile could hide a real sharp knife easily. And getting stabbed in the back on the way to wherever sure as hell didn’t appeal.

Of course there was every chance that the woman had just been interested in seeing her fight. When Elayn had finally left the alley, there had been no small number of wild tales to hear as she walked. She kind of wished she had seen the fight against the behemoth super giant with a broken arm and a chainsaw. Granted it would be a bit embarrassing if Serana really expected some kind of immortal bad ass escort, since she would be travelling and fighting as a human, but those were the breaks.

It was noon by the time Elayn rose from the creaky bed she had rented for the night. Despite eating enough to feed a family the night before, her stomach rumbled as she got up and stretched. As she lumbered down the steps to look for food, she was stopped by a small child colliding with her legs.

She looked down, too startled to react, and saw blue eyes staring up at her under a mop of dark hair. “Miss ‘Layn!”

Reaching down to detach the boy from her legs meant not looking into the room ahead, so approaching footsteps came as a surprise. She stood up, Toby in her arms, and her surprised expression shifted to one of amused welcome. “You lost something. Again. Why is it always me?”

Teegan laughed and leaned into Lucca, who stood beside the smaller blond man with his usual taciturn friendliness. “Not this time-- I actually sent him over when we saw you. I still owe you that steak, remember?”

Stomachs didn’t technically have ears but hers heard the mention of food anyway and growled its approval. That got a laugh out of even Lucca and she endured teasing all the way to the table up until Teegan disappeared to order food and drinks. Toby, bless his heart, wasn’t quite in on the joke but that didn’t stop him from laughing and making his own comments whenever he saw a chance. A lot of it was yelling “Yeah!” when Teegan said something himself.

“In town long?” Lucca asked while they waited, still grinning. “Could probably get hired as a guard if you asked.”

Teegan slid into his seat with a snort. “They’d be the ones asking, hun. Probably even begging. Diamond City could use someone with your strength.”

“Yeah! You could fight monsters and be a hero!” said Toby, staring up at her with wide, admiring eyes.

The kid’s words reminded her of gold eyes and a teasing smirk and Elayn smiled softly in spite of herself. “Nah, that sounds like too many rules. Besides, I already have a job lined up.” Drinks were dropped at their table and she took a gulp of her metallic-tasting water before saying, “I’ll be gone at dusk, actually.”

“So soon?” Light eyebrows raised over Teegan’s green eyes.

She shrugged. “I’m not one for cities, or crowds really. The whole guarding thing is easier when I’ve got a better idea of who I’m protecting and who I’m fighting. Keeping an eye on one person will be more of a breeze than the caravan, and possibly better coin.”

Toby looked put-out. “If you leave, I won’t see you again.”

“It’s just an escort mission, kid,” she said with a laugh, and tousled his hair. “I shouldn’t be more than a week. Your folks will still be busy in the markets when I come back.”

The boy looked to his fathers and gave his most pleading look. “We’ll stay until she’s back, right?”

Teegan’s mouth twisted down. “We’ll see,” he said after a moment. “You know I don’t like making those kinds of promises, sweetie. We might have somewhere to go before she comes back that we don’t know about now.”

Lucca was silent, but the hazel eyes fixed on Elayn said plenty on their own. It wasn’t that they might leave early, it was that she might not be coming back, and she shouldn’t have been making promises like that to the kid. 

While she resented the unspoken criticism, she knew he was right. Kids his age didn’t think about how adults could wind up breaking promises they meant to keep because something happened that they couldn’t control. All Toby would understand was that she had lied and forgotten about him, and in a world like theirs, that was more heartbreaking than the knowledge that if she wasn’t back it was because she was dead.

Elayn couldn’t help the frustrated exhale through her nose. Of course she wasn't going to end up dead before she got back, why was she so worried now? She just wasn’t used to dealing with stuff like this, because she wasn’t used to actually dealing with people. The caravan’s trek from DC had been way longer than most of the jobs she took, and she hadn’t thought about what that meant as far as getting to know others. Teegan and Lucca’s kindness and warmth were surprising to her, but given how often she had been the one to go rescue their son, it wasn’t uncalled for. It just didn’t help that Toby had attached himself to her from the moment she pulled him out of the radroach nest.

The silence was at least partially justified when food got to the table. She tore into her steak happily, even ignoring subtle digs from Teegan about table manners. The rest of the meal was spent chatting idly about news and music, and the clock said two in the afternoon when she made her goodbyes and walked out into the street. Just four hours until she left. 

\-----------

When Serana saw the sun sink below the walls of Diamond City, she left her hiding place in the alley. The same alley, in fact, where she had met the woman called Elayn. She was sensitive to radiation like all of her family and when a presence covered in dirt and blood and hot enough to break a Geiger counter had shown up ten feet from her sleeping mat, it had been enough to startle her out of the blanket to go and investigate. 

At first she had panicked, thinking her father had sent someone to find her, but one look at the figure curled in on herself and leaning against a wall was enough for her to slip her pistol into waistband of her jeans at the small of her back. They might have had something in common with the radiation itself, but this woman was most definitely not a ghoul. 

Between the smell of wet dog and the bright silver eyes, it did not take Serana long to figure out that she had come across something she had only ever read about in her father’s research notes. It definitely explained the excited stories floating through the wall. The shop on the other side of the alley hadn’t been occupied until the caravan came in with plenty of gossip about the guard that saved them from a thousand dangers. That she had not attacked despite being so obviously wired from the fighting was certainly a mark in her favor.

Serana had time to think while she waited for dusk, and thoughts she kept considering while she waited at the gate just as the sun set. She would need to leave Elayn before they reached her father’s estate, or else the woman would end up a lab animal before she could escape. She needed the best she could to make it through the dangerous swamp that surrounded her family home but that didn't mean she wanted her to come to harm.

Being lost in thought usually had the unintended consequence of being taken by surprise when someone approached, something she preferred to avoid, but she still looked up sharply when footsteps approached that were familiar already. Elayn was loping along the metal grating floor toward the gate with a lazy smile on her face and a supply bag slung over her shoulders. Her eyes lit up when she spotted Serana and the curl of her lips turned more friendly.

“Good, you’re on time. Most mercenaries I hire don’t know what a clock is.” 

She winced a little as the words came out far harsher than she meant, and at the way Elayn’s smile faltered. “I’m not exactly a mercenary,” she said, stopping a few feet away. “Guess the way we met didn’t give you a good impression.”

“The gossip made up for it,” she offered jokingly, but it fell flat and sounded more serious than teasing. 

Elayn’s hand rubbed nervously at the back of her neck and she looked away, first to the side and then the gate. “We should probably get going, huh? If we’re travelling at night, we’ll need to cover ground a bit more carefully. Where are we..?”

“Lexington. You’re right, we should go.”

Clearly she was out of practice with talking to someone; all the bravado she had shown in the alley was nowhere to be found now. Maybe it was because they were clearly on more level ground, or her own misgivings about how things would turn out, but she felt her tongue turn from silver to lead every time she spoke. The silence as they passed out into the city was awkward even if it meant avoiding yet another gaff, and it was actually quite a relief when they were attacked.

“Duck left!” Elayn shouted, the sound blending with the whistle of a grenade flying overhead. 

She threw herself over the hood of a car just as it exploded and shrapnel went flying. Within seconds she was back on her feet, aiming over the rusted vehicle for the Raider who had tossed the grenade. Her .44 split the air as it sent a bullet straight for his chest. The damn fool threw himself forward at the last second, and it caught him in the head.

There were four more ahead, but none of them were coming after her. They were distracted by the whirlwind of steel and leather that was Elayn as she twisted and spun to strike and disappear before she got hit. The raiders had the advantage of knowing the area and better cover, but even that wasn’t enough to save them. She was never in the same place at once, darting forward when they stopped to reload and ducking behind corners while they shot. 

Eventually the cover of fallen steel girders and rubble was their undoing. Two were dispatched as they struggled to reload the flimsy pipe weapons, throats disappearing in a flash of red and silver. Another took the opportunity to rush her while her back was turned, but didn’t count on her speed or just how loud his boots were striking concrete. His forward motion was stopped short by a kukri sticking clear through his chest and out his back. 

The fourth and final raider, a younger man barely out of adolescence with eyes black and jagged from Psycho that could not stand against the fear of watching his crew decimated, dropped to his knees as Elayn approached with hands clasped and lips muttering prayer and screaming pleas for mercy. 

Serana had gotten closer as the fighting went on and the shooting died down, so she could see Elayn’s face, and immediately wished she weren’t. Her silver eyes were bright and frenzied, her teeth bared in a feral snarl. The skin on her face and neck rippled like water, and it was that sight that jolted Serana into action.

“Elayn!” she shouted, stepping closer but staying out of range of the blade she held. “Let him go; he’s learned his lesson.”

For a moment her head cocked to the side as if trying to understand a foreign sound and Serana worried it was too late, but then she gusted out a sigh that seemed to deflate some of the ferocity and rage from her. “Scram, kid,” she said through gritted teeth. “Before you join your buddies.”  
The young raider did not stand; he only turned and scrambled off over the wreckage as fast as his hands and feet could take him. Elayn’s body stiffened and strained forward like she was holding herself from giving chase, but when the sight of him disappeared she leaned back and shut her eyes. 

“Gotta love raiders,” she said casually, like she wasn't fighting to calm the frantic heart rate Serana could hear at a distance.

“Thank you for sparing him,” Serana said quietly, looking away to give the other woman some space. “I wasn’t sure you would.”

A sharp inhale made her look back again and she saw that Elayn’s eyes were bright again with anger. “I’m not some monster,” she snapped. “He was just some punk kid who got caught up in something he shouldn’t.”

Serana opened her mouth to apologize, raising her hands and stepping back, but she was cut off before she could say anything. “Forget it,” Elayn snapped, shaking her head sharply. “Come on, we need to get moving. Lexington, right? Let’s go.”


	3. Chapter 3

“I need to apologize.”

Elayn bit back a sigh when Serana looked up with a skeptical expression painted across her face. She deserved that, for being such a bitch when they were dealing with the raiders and then all along their trek north. Eventually the other woman had stopped trying to talk to her other than to point out enemies nearby, and then to suggest they stop before dawn to rest. 

At first she had the reasonable excuse of her blood roaring through her body, demanding it change itself, but after that she had no reason to be surly other than that she was sulking. Finally travelling at night and she still couldn’t shift, or she would scare the hell out of her companion. They hadn’t chatted much other than the alley and the short exchange before leaving the city, so she was going to fortify and break the ice before the boredom drove her insane.

After a few moments, during which Elayn’s stomach twisted into nervous knots, she heard, “Apologize?”

“Yeah,” she said, busying herself with fetching something to eat from her pack. “I was being an ass earlier. No qualifiers to that, just, you know, I’m sorry.”

There was more silence, and when she looked up expecting anger, she was a bit startled to see a thoughtful frown on Serana’s face, like she was thinking on something difficult. 

“I kind of get like that,” Elayn went on, trying not to make excuses but at least explain. “When I’m around fighting like that, or when there’s a lot of radiation. It’s from growing up out around some old dumpsites, I think." She finished with a lie and a weak laugh, hoping Serana didn't dig for more information. 

Finally the other woman seemed to come to a decision and she smiled a little. “I think I understand. You were giving most teenagers a bad name with the sulking, though.”

“Hey!” she protested, hand going to her chest. “That actually hurt my sensitive feelings, you know. I might never recover. Scarred for life.”

That earned her a laugh. “For being called sulky?”

“For being compared to a teenager.” She shuddered. “I got away from that a decade ago, and I’m never going back. It was a nightmare.”  
Serana leaned forward as she finally wrestled the ration packs out of her bag and passed one over. “I’m sure you were a cute kid. You know, for a teenager.”

She snorted. “Acne and growth spurts. I shot up like six inches overnight and didn’t really figure it out until my head smacked into an open cabinet. Really, it wasn’t pretty.”

“Six inches, huh?” Her eyes sparkled with interest before her attention went back to her food. “That’s weird. Most people don’t grow that fast.”

Well crap, no they didn’t, because they were normal. “I might have exaggerated a bit,” she said quickly to cover the gaff. “My memory that far back is a little hazy, probably from getting hit in the head.”

“Childhood is always an interesting time.” The words were an agreement, but Serana almost seemed sad as she said them.

Sensing a chance to get a little more information on her travelling partner, Elayn hummed noncommittally and started eating, letting the silence seep back into the air. Then she said, “Mine wasn’t all sunshine and daisies, really. I grew up in kind of a commune, with all sorts of people who were weird. It was pretty strict.”

She didn’t look up even when Serana looked at her with some confusion and suspicion. “Why are you telling me that?”

Shrug, bite, chew. “If we’re going to be running across the Commonwealth together, might as well share some stuff. I kind of missed out while I was being a teenager.”

That let the suspicion fade, at least a little. “I suppose. So… commune, huh? What was that like?”

“Brutal.” Her answer was blunt, but honest. “Food was given to the strongest first, if it was shared at all. I had to fight for everything and that wasn’t always easy.”

“Didn’t your parents help you?” Serana sounded angry, on her behalf. 

Elayn snorted. “They were too busy trying to help each other to an early grave. Pack-- uh,” she grimaced because how do you recover from  _ that _ little term? “The law around the place meant they were stuck together after they had me, but that didn’t mean they had to be a decent couple. Or decent parents. I ended up living off of what was left over and sleeping in a pile of torn-up comics.”

“That sounds awful.”

She balled up the wrapping from her ration bar and tossed it aside so she could lean back and rest her head on a rock. “I guess it wasn’t exactly ideal, but it was what I got, and it made me stronger. If my parents had actually liked each other, I might not have lassoed a deathclaw.”

Serana, who had not finished eating, broke into a fit of coughing. Her eyes watered as they stared at Elayn, who passed her a bottle of water. “You  _ what? _ ”

She grinned and leaned back again while the other woman took a few gulps. “I ended up leaving when I got old enough, and fell in with some raiders that called themselves the Blood Rats. They were getting shredded by a deathclaw-- well, two actually, but one was already dead and they were close to joining it. So I grabbed a chain and a cinderblock and swung it. It wrapped around the thing’s throat and choked it out.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Serana rolled her eyes upward, but she couldn’t hide the laughter in her voice. “So how did they take that?”

“A feast of deathclaw stew and more alcohol than I knew existed. I ended up trying to reenact the move with the chain and unfortunately, I aimed at this statue they were worshipping as a god. Long story short, I had to skedaddle pretty fast.” 

“There is no way you’re telling the truth.”  
Elayn shoved herself up, indignant. “I am! I’ve still got a scar on my back from the branding iron they threw at me. It was supposed to be for initiation until I broke the head off the statue.” 

She twisted around and reached behind her head so she could tug her shirt up, revealing the skin of her lower back and the burn mark. “See? I’m no liar. At least about something like that.”  
Serana was quiet, and when she twisted back around, the other woman had gone pink and was staring intently at the doorway. “I believe you,” she stammered.

Elayn smirked. “Look at you blushing like you’ve never seen an awesome scar like that. I’ve got a few more interesting ones if you like.”

“It’s getting lighter outside,” was the short reply as she flopped down on her side; conveniently facing away. “We should sleep.”  
She laughed and did the same. “Sleep well, ‘Rana.”

\--------------

Elayn was surprisingly pleasant to talk to when she was away from combat. It was funny to Serana that they had only really spoken when she was trying to recover from fighting other than the conversation they had before dawn, but it had been that conversation that convinced her that hiring her was the right idea. It also convinced her that when they got close enough to her father’s estate, she would need to leave as quickly as possible.

Serana knew what her guard was; or at least she had a good idea from research notes. She also knew that her guard might not take well to what she was, let alone her father and his madness. The estate would certainly be as irradiated as a nuclear reactor on a bad day and while it was a poison to most and an elixir to her, it would be like three shots of Jet to the heart for Elayn. Even before, she had not wanted to see the woman locked away in a cage, but now more than ever she did not want to let that happen. 

The sky above the Commonwealth was, for once, all but clear of clouds and the moon and stars lit their path well. They kept to the roads on Elayn’s insistence, chivalry that made Serana have to hide a smile because even if it had been overcast and dark, she still would have been able to see, and so would Elayn. Still, they were keeping up pretenses, so she went along with it. At least it let Elayn relax when they would hear anyone approaching long before they were seen.

And since she was relaxed, she felt no need to play the stoic guard. She laughed and joked and teased, something Serana had not dealt with in a very long time. It felt like a weight lifted off her chest; being carefree.

“I’m serious! It was like the size of my arm!” She held out the limb insistently, like she was proving a point. “That’s not a pistol, that’s a damn shotgun.”

Serana laughed and swatted at her shoulder until she dropped her arm. “Did you try to argue it, though?”

“Nah, I couldn’t.” She chuckled and shook her head. “He was at least a foot shorter than me, and I wasn’t going to stop him from calling it a pea-shooter. Hell I even stopped some of the others from trying to set him straight.”

“So why don’t you carry a gun?” Her own was still tucked behind her back. “It’s got to be safer to fight from a distance than how close you get.”

Elayn scratched at the back of her neck; something Serana had figured out meant she was about to lie, or at least try to evade. “Never been a fan of them, I guess. The sound hurts my ears if I’m too close.”

“That makes sense.” And it did, in a way, but she knew there was more. “You got intense back there, with the bandits. Does that usually happen?”

“Honestly… Yeah.” She looked somewhat embarrassed by the answer. “It’s not like I’m a berserker or anything-- I can snap out of it. Just, when I’m fighting, it’s like…”

“Like the rest of the world falls away and everything gets simple?”

Shock filled her expression and she stared at Serana, nearly tripping over a brick on the ground but still she stared. “Uh, yeah. Probably better than I could have said it myself. Read that somewhere?”

“Lucky guess?” She matched Elayn’s hesitant, questioning tone with a smirk. “I’ve seen the type before. And, having seen you fight, I can’t exactly disapprove.”

“I’m pretty badass, huh?” Her smile is self-satisfied and she struts for a few steps.

Serana tried unsuccessfully to hide her laughter behind her hand. “Are you flexing?”

“Maybe. Does it show?” Her hands went up to tuck behind her head.

Now she made no attempt to hide her amusement. “Now you’re just being--”

Her words were cut off as Elayn stopped in her tracks. A heartbeat later, her eyes snapped to the left of the road up ahead. Serana’s unspoken question was answered when the earth itself started to shift and push up; something was coming up and whatever it was, it was big.

The “what” became clear when a creature with glowing green-tinged pink skin and giant teeth pushed its way up form the ground. The molerat rushed them with a chittering squeal of rage. It was followed by several others of its kind, all of them fast and all of them deadly.

Serana sprung into action, pulling the gun from her waistband as Elayn drew her kukri. “On your right!” she shouted, her gun banging just as the other woman moved.

The bullet struck the side of the second closest mole rat, but not with a fatal wound. She watched in horror as its flesh knitted back together to stop the bleeding. Anything less than a headshot would only anger the irradiated beasts, something she could not do without getting dangerously close to their teeth and claws.

This did not escape Elayn’s noticed. She looked back, simultaneously terrified and infuriated, but only for a split second. The expression faded into one of pure ferocity as she turned back to the approaching creatures and let out a roar. It was barely human, something feral and intended to provoke, and it succeeded. The mole rats all but swarmed her with terrifying alacrity and aggression.

At first she was able to hold her own against the assault but no one could have done it for long. Serana held her weapon ready for an opening that would not strike Elayn, but there was none. There was only pained squeals when Elayn’s kukri struck a mole rat and her own heart-wrenching shrieks whenever their teeth ripped into her flesh. The creatures were incensed, intent on tearing the steel-wielding threat to shreds, and not at all concerned with the frozen and shaking woman ten feet away.

Then the inevitable finally came. Elayn lost her footing, slipping in churned earth and blood and dropping to a knee. The mole rats pressed closer, vicious animal glee burning in their bright red eyes. There was nothing Serana could do, except…

“Fight back!” she screamed, feet taking jerking steps forward. “Damn it Elayn, you’re stronger than this!”

There was a halt when her cry faded from the air, like pressing pause on an old holotape, and an eery stillness settled over everything. Not an absence of sound so much as the deafening vacuum of the calm before a storm.

Elayn’s body had fallen limp on the ground under her attackers. Just as she had fallen, Serana had shouted, and the combination of that cry and a defeated enemy meant that the mole rats were now regarding her intently. She swallowed past the lump of terror in her throat and smiled.

They were so interested in her that they completely forgot about the prone form behind them. A form that exploded in a riot of cracking bone and tearing flesh. A form that rose to stand seven feet high and half as broad with dense muscle and wiry fur. A form with flashing claws and fangs that put the mole rats to shame.

A form that was now attacking. The mole rats never stood a chance.

Serana stepped back during the very brief slaughter, more out of concern with avoiding the blood and flesh that went flying than any fear. She watched the scene passively, like watching a video and not like she were right there. Even as she had to step to the side to dodge the mauled carcass of a mole rat flung away like a rag doll, she did not feel a spike of adrenaline to send her heart hammering. 

The last glowing beat died in a choked gurgle through a torn throat. The humanoid lupine form slumped without falling, arms hanging limply with its-- her-- head. Serana watched and waited, counting the gusts of breath that came and went steadily. When she counted ten exhalations, she cleared her throat, only just now becoming worried that she might now be a target.

Silver eyes dulled with exhaustion met her own, but when Elayn tried to stand and turn, the movement pulled at her still-bleeding wounds and she went stiff before collapsing to the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sniff* My lovely morons are getting along! And then bad things happen, but hey, that's life. New chapter pretty dang soon. Also, thanks to my beta reader, who pointed out a few places that needed fixed.  
> Also, not sure if anyone else noticed this, but I sure as hell did; lack of character descriptions for our main ladies! I'll be adding those in for later chapters, mostly Elayn, but yeah I goofed there.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somewhat longer of a wait than I'd prefer, but includes much-needed exposition and explanation! Also adorable fluff, so have fun with that.

Ow.

Not quite her most eloquent thought but it certainly fit. If Elayn had a part, it hurt. Even her  _ eyelashes _ felt like they were aching. Where was the justice in that?!

She didn’t even have the luxury of memory loss. That part of going through hell never really happened to her. Every gnawing mole rat trying to chew her apart, the panic she felt when she realized there was a very real chance she was going to die, and then Serana screaming at her to--

Right. Serana had seen her change into a hulking pile of fur and muscle. Which begged the question; how was she not bleeding to death in a ditch right now? She might have seemed calm the few seconds before Elayn passed out, but shock was a helluva drug.

“You know it wasn’t easy dragging you here before we were attacked again.” Serana’s voice; not overly close but not far either. “Between that and getting you cleaned up and bandaged, I think I might not be paying you.”

She opened her eyes and lifted her head to look at herself as best she could in the dark-- must be night. There were indeed bandages wrapped around her at various intervals of her skin, enough to make her feel like a mummy in a comic about ancient tombs. She had also been stripped down to her undershorts and breastband.

A chuckle rasped through her ragged throat. “You just wanted to see me out of my shirt. You still owe me.”  
When she didn’t hear a reply, she looked up to see flustered and nervous golden eyes watching her carefully. The rest of Serana’s face was masked by shadows, but from what she could see, there was no hint of the smile she’d hoped for. She sighed and sat up, grunting at the pain of abused muscles protesting the move. Between the damage done by those mole rats and the extreme stress of changing shape so quickly… She might be down for a while if she wasn’t careful, and she still didn’t know how Serana was reacting to this whole thing.

Well, there was something she could do about that at least.

“You really don’t seem surprised by what happened.” Her words were as neutral as she could manage now that the gravity of this whole thing was sinking in.

“I’m not.”  
“Okay.” She tried for a grin. “So either you knew about  my kind, or you’ve got an amazing supplier and you haven’t been sharing.”  
Serana snorted, a faint but amused sound. “The first. I didn’t want to say anything.”

Odd that she’d know that, but there was a lot to learn with an ear to the ground. “When did you figure it out? Most people can’t tell unless they meet one with an obvious defect. Was it the eyes? Gotta say, mine aren’t any weirder than yours.”  
“No.” Finally Serana moved, tucking her legs against her chest and resting her chin on her knees. “I figured it out when I felt a mass of radiation almost as big as a super mutant get close.”

Elayn laughed. “You ‘felt’ it? That’s impossible. The only other mutations I know of that can do that besides me and my kind are--”

“Ghouls. I know.”

Well that was a bombshell. “But you’re not-- I mean you don’t look like--”

Golden eyes crinkled with hidden emotion met hers for a moment before she looked away entirely. “I don’t look rotted and half-dead you mean?

“Well I  _ was _ going to say you’re too pretty to be a ghoul but I thought that might be offensive.”

The teasing didn’t get a blush or a laugh like she was hoping for. Instead, Serana looked alarmed, confused, and then pained. “How are you just joking like that? Why aren’t you angry?”

Now it was Elayn’s turn to be lost. “What are you talking about? It’s not like I was upfront with you about my oddities, even if you already knew. And yeah I’m kind of curious about why you look very not-ghoul, but it’s not like I’m biased.”  
Realizing her rushed attempt to assure Serana had come out as more of a rant made her duck her head and look away, embarrassed. “I mean, it would be kind of hypocritical if I was,” she muttered.

It was quiet for a minute while both of them refused to look at each other. “Most people are…”

“Bigoted assholes with bias against anything not just like them?”

“Something like that, yeah.” She sighed. “I’m not used to people knowing. Or knowing people outside of my family.”  
Elayn looked up again, frowning. “Not to be rude or anything, but I get why they wouldn’t notice. You look… not normal, because you’re way prettier than most humans I’ve met, but you get what I mean.”

“I think I’ll take that as a compliment,” Serana said dryly, but her lips turned up in a smile that softened her eyes made Elayn’s heart soar. “It’s my family’s work. My parents figured out how to let us pass as mundane humans about two hundred years ago, a treatment that treats most of the cellular damage for a short time. So unless I make a mistake, no one ever realizes it.”

“Two hundred--?!” Her eyes went huge. “You’re two hundred years old? How does that even--”

“Ghoul, Elayn.” Serana shook her head. “We don’t age, even if my family isn’t like the rest. I wish you’d stop complimenting me, though. If you could see me right now, you’d understand.”

Her brow furrowed, upset by the statement and by not understanding what that meant. “Unless you replaced your face with that creepy old drunk guy’s that hangs around the market in the city, I don’t think I would.”

“Suit yourself.”

She watched as Serana shifted closer into the hazy light that filtered through a crack in the ceiling. She didn’t look the same as before; her skin was stretched taut making her almost skeletal, and disturbingly pale like sour milk. It was definitely shocking, but…

She was still Serana, and yeah she looked kind of bad right then, but it wasn’t worse than a giant two-legged dog.

“Nope! Still pretty.” Elayn kept her expression as passive as she could until then, but let her face pull into a grin as soon as she saw the shock on the other woman’s face.

“Did you hit your head or something?” Serana demanded, looking bewildered and a fair bit concerned.

“Nah.” She was still kind of injured, though, and the excitement faded to hit with a wave of exhaustion that made her lean back on the sleeping bag under her. She fought to keep her heavy eyes open. “Are you okay, though? You said something about a treatment; how long has it been since you had it?”

She still looked confused, but answered hesitantly anyway. “A few days before we left Diamond City. It should have been enough to last me until we reached the estate, but this has taken longer than I thought, and the fight with the mole rats was… Stressful.”

Elayn’s eyes had closed without her realizing, she was so tired, but they flew open again. She had lost count of how many times she’d been surprised since waking up but “too many” summed it up. “How long have I been asleep?!”

“About two days.” Serana didn’t seem happy about that. “You were burning up and talking in your sleep, but you never actually woke up. I was getting worried.”

She groaned. “Figures. Radiation works great to give me an edge in a fight, but it can have a nasty effect after I shift back. Which... I’m assuming I did when I passed out.”

Serana went red again and her eyes darted away at Elayn’s arched brow. “You did. Your clothes were kind of…”

It dawned on her after a moment of thought-- damn it her brain was fuzzy-- and she started laughing hard enough to make her ribs ache. “Hope you enjoyed the view at least.”

“You were unconscious and bleeding to death!” she snapped. “I wasn’t looking!”

Her laughter had faded to quiet giggling. “Your loss.”

“Oh go to sleep.” Serana tried for stern, but couldn’t keep her own lightheartedness from showing. It left Elayn smiling even as she fell asleep.

* * *

 

Serana stood watch while Elayn slept and recovered. She would be fine without the sleep, and it gave her time to think. Travelling, really even spending much time with anyone outside of her parent’s colleagues, was quite the adjustment. It was an even stranger thing for that person to be just as abnormal as her. It left her feeling as though she was constantly on the wrong foot, but not in a bad way.

Sometimes it was just odd.The second time Elayn woke, she asked for the Radaway in her backpack and a needle.

“Why are you using that?” she asked, watching with some amazement as the other woman tied a tourniquet around her bicep and tapped at the crook of her right arm for a vein. “I thought radiation would help you heal faster. The notes I read said--”

She was cut off when Elayn hissed at the sting of the needle sliding under her skin. “I think this might go better if I helped,” she said softly.

“Heh, it’s alright. I need the practice anyway.” She settled back against her backpack; a rather lumpy replacement for pillows to prop her up. “To answer your question-- though I really want to know where those notes you read are-- it would help me heal faster, just not  _ well _ . First of all, you’re not close enough to somewhere you can get that treatment you mentioned, so if I can be less of a walking nuclear disaster, it’ll be less of a problem for you.”

“Elayn, you don’t have to--”

“Hey,” she said, cutting off the rushed words. “Don’t worry. I’m not doing something stupidly heroic or anything. My body can’t actually heal and reform as fast as it would need for it to be safe to do. Remember what I said about defects? That’s usually from either changing back and forth too fast or pushing the recovery time too much.”

Serana frowned, partially at the other woman’s stubbornness but also at herself. The explanation had triggered a hundred different questions to run through her mind at once. It was a trait she had gotten from her mother and father, scientists before anything else, but she had enough humanity to know it was wrong to treat a companion like an experiment to be picked apart and studied.

Elayn must have mistaken her expression for something else, because she hurried to explain more. “I’ll still heal faster than a human. I’m not getting rid of all the radiation, and I’ve got a stimpack to help me along. I know you’re wanting to get back; wouldn’t dream of delaying the rest of the walk anymore than I absolutely have to.”  
She was touched by the assurance even if she still felt guilty for her curiosity, and she smiled. “It’s not that. I’ve waited this long; a few more days to make sure you’re alright won’t kill me. That wasn’t what was bothering me.”

“Oh.” Now she looked intrigued. “Well I suck at guessing games. What’s up?”

She felt herself go a bit red and looked away. “It’s nothing. Really.”

Elayn snickered. “Now I  _ know _ it’s something. Worried you won’t get another chance to see me shirtless?”

“Will you ever let that go?” she shot back, her indignance ruined by the grin that she had to fight. 

“Not until you tell me what was bothering you.” Elayn eyed her knowingly. “C’mon, I’m bed-ridden and bored.”

She laughed; a single exhale through her nose. “How can I deny someone being so polite?”

“That look on your face says you’re going to try.”

“I was just curious,” she admitted suddenly, surprising herself and Elayn. The sigh she let out made her shoulders droop. “About you. I’ve read some things but there wasn’t much. And I felt bad because you’re not some lab animal.”

Elayn’s eyes, already wide, furrowed with thought. “That’s all? Serana, I’m not offended if you want to know more. If anything I’m flattered.”

She spread her arms in invitation as well as she could with the IV in the way. “Ask away. I’m an open book.”

Serana blinked rapidly, stunned by the permission. “I… are you sure?”

“I’ve got nothing to hide and…” She looked at the bag hanging from the nail sticking out of the wall. “About an hour while this runs.”

“Alright.” She leaned forward, facing Elayn and suddenly wishing she had a notepad with her. “I’m guessing the name my parents used in their research was just the scientific term. What do you call yourself?”

“Garou.” Elayn snorted. “I think the pack I grew up with must have moved up from the swamps in the south way before I was born, and that’s what they went with. It’s better than werewolf, though.”

“Why?” Now that she could ask the questions that refused to be dismissed, Serana was extremely excited about getting more information. Even better since it was from a lupine homid-- the term in the notes-- herself and not just what she could figure out from another’s notes.

Now Elayn looked flustered, staring down at the floor-- she was blushing! “If I tell you this one, you have to promise not to laugh.”

Serana grinned. “No guarantees, but I will certainly try.”

“When I got out of the pack, I came across a couple old libraries.” She rubbed at the back of her neck, looking up sheepishly. “Lots of old books about what people thought about werewolves back before the bombs dropped. Most of it, unfortunately, was romance stuff. The moment I realized most of those stories were about magical wolf-human hybrids, I nixed it pretty quick. Then there’s the whole ‘wolf within’ thing that just…”

The sudden, sour look on Elayn's face surprised her. “So it’s not like that? Your kind are more like humans than werewolves?”

She regretted her wording when Elayn’s scowl grew fiercer, but it wasn’t directed at her. “They aren’t. My pack may have thought otherwise but they were insane to begin with.”

“Meaning..?

“Meaning we’re not really wolves.” She gestured to herself with her left hand. “I mean, a fair few of us don’t exactly look it, but we’re still human. Or at least as human as someone even  _ can _ be in this radiation-soaked hellhole. One day a hundred-something years ago, my ancestors fell ass first into a pool of radioactive waste with a bunch of wolves. There’s no magic or special lineage, just a freak accident. It got passed along and now there’s even more of us running around acting like jackasses.”

The vehemence in her tirade made Serana chuckle; it was kind of cute how against the idea of being somehow related to those books she was. “How does that tie into your pack being insane?”

“Because of the wolf crap!” She groaned and let her head drop back against her bag. “I didn’t realize it until I got out and met a few others like me, but apparently it’s not anywhere near normal to do half the crap my pack did. Acting like a wild animal and dancing naked under the moonlight to ‘get stronger’ was complete crap. Letting a kid starve and freeze because she couldn’t fight back? That was  _ worse _ than being an animal; it was the kind of idiotic cruelty only humans can do.”

Somewhere during all that, her light-hearted complaining and contempt for the pack turned to genuine anger. Elayn’s last word was cut off sharply when her jaw clenched tight. Her arms crossed over her chest, completely ignoring the needle in her arm, and she tilted her head down and away so her shaggy blonde hair fell over her eyes.

Not willing to suffer through awkward, angry silence again, and also to keep herself from running her hand through the girl’s hair to see how soft it was, Serana reached up to unhook the IV bag from its hook. “The treatment is finished,” she said gently, reaching out to rest her hand on Elayn’s right arm. “Let me take out the cannula so you can get some rest.”

“I can do it myself.” Her voice was gruff. Bitter memories? 

She waited a moment, and when Elayn did not look up, she cupped her tensed jaw and tugged insistently. Her eyes blinked open and then widened with shock to see Serana’s face only inches away. “What are you--?”

“You don’t need to do everything yourself,” she said firmly. “It isn’t weak to ask for help, and it’s okay to accept it when someone offers. When _ I _ offer.”

“‘Rana,” she said, voice a ragged breath. Her eyes slid shut and she leaned forward, hesitant, and Serana felt herself doing the same.

Baying dogs broke the heavy quiet between them. They jolted apart and into action at the same time, though Elayn was slowed by having to yank the needle from her arm and escape her sleeping bag and blanket. By the time she stood-- still half-undressed and heavily bandaged-- Serana was already at the door and peering out with her gun in hand.

“What is it?” Elayn hissed, snatching her kukri from beside where she had been sleeping. She did not crowd the other woman to look inside; instead she moved to the boarded-up window to peer through the slats. “Wait, we’re in a gas station?”

“There weren’t many options after you passed out.” Her voice was low and calm, contrasting with Elayn’s frantic and harsh whispers. “I don’t see anything, but it sounded close.”

She started to reply, but whatever she meant to say was left behind. “Holy shit!” she said, barely quiet. “Look at that stag!”

The creature in question became illuminated by the lights of the fuel depot even through the early morning fog. The heavily mutated elk was fending off three mangey and vicious dogs. They were circling the radstag, one of them drawing his attention away long enough for the other two to strike. Their teeth glanced off the radstag’s hide, and they were quickly driven back by his antlers. The fight was fairly even despite the numbers, so it was a coin toss whether or not the creature would fight off the mutts.

“Oh hell no,” Elayn spat, her sudden outrage startling Serana. “‘Scuse me a second.”

Before Serana could really react let alone argue, she pushed past so her face was sticking through a broken part of the door. She took in a large breath and let loose a feral roar, one a lot like what she had threatened the mole rats with. It had much the same effect too, but it echoed off the nearby metal enough that the dogs could only look around for the new threat.

The distraction offered the radstag an escape, but instead of fleeing, he attacked with renewed vigour. Crushing hooves came down on the dogs; antlers struck with heavy thuds and even the sickening squelch of pierced flesh. The dogs were cowards in the face of death, and like cowards they fled. Baying, yipping, and whining trailed behind them like waste spilled off the back of a truck.

“Why did you do that?” Serana demanded, voice louder than before to hear herself over her pounding heart. That roar had been  _ very _ close and  _ very _ loud.

Elayn’s response was only to point out into the mist. She followed the gesture and watched, stunned, as a small shape appeared from the treeline. It was another radstag, a much younger fawn whose antlers were nowhere near growing in yet. It stepped gingerly and slowly toward the larger elk, bleating questioningly. The sound was met with a low groan and an affectionate nuzzle before the pair walked away.

Elayn was still watching out the window after they had gone, a faint but gentle smile on her lips. “He was protecting the baby. I saw him look over at the tree every time the dogs got him. Figured I’d lend a hand.”

The explanation made Serana’s eyes sting and her heart soar, but she hid it and tapped Elayn’s shoulder with a closed fist; a friendly punch. “Come on Hero, you still need to sleep.”

A loud yawn cut off her reply and she nodded, eyes drooping. “Yeah, alright. Night ‘Rana. I think we can start up again tomorrow.”  
“As long as you’re careful.” She helped Elayn down onto the sleeping bag before settling down on her own. “Sleep well.”

Elayn grinned at her as her eyes slid shut and muttered, “You know, I think I will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I too hate when authors do that but the fic attached to this series should make up for it!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been alerted that there are people genuinely waiting for updates to this and I feel kinda bad, so here's the new chapter and hopefully more quite soon.

True to her word, Elayn was almost recovered enough to travel when Serana woke her up at dusk. A stimpack took care of the rest of the deeper muscular damage and when she pulled away the bandages, the injuries looked weeks old instead of days. She took a moment to stretch, enjoying the burn of sore limbs finally getting some action, and also fighting a smug grin every time Serana glanced at her and looked away quickly.

Her blush, unfortunately, drew attention to how pale she’d gotten and how tight her skin had drawn across her face. As they set out into the night and a few hours went by, she noticed that Serana’s eyes were turning red, the usual gold fading as time went by. Whenever Elayn asked about it, her concerns were brushed away, but it didn’t stop her from worrying.

And that wasn’t the only thing she couldn’t let go. Her mind kept drifting back to what had happened the last time she was awake, before the noise outside interrupted them. She and Serana had nearly kissed, and just thinking about it made her heart jolt. Definitely not out of fear either.

She wasn’t _blind_ after all, or a complete idiot. Serana was amazing in a thousand different ways, and the week they had spent with just the two of them left Elayn feeling much more attached to the other woman than she ever meant to be. It was sort of like getting to like Teegan and his family after a while, but also very different. This had been a lot more sudden and a lot faster, leaving her feeling lightheaded and buzzing with happiness.

Unfortunately, reality had a way of rearing its ugly head and putting a stop to her happy daydreaming. The fact was, they wouldn’t see each other again after they reached the estate and went their separate ways. Elayn never stayed in one place for long so the chances of running into each other again were almost depressingly low. They would say goodbye and that would be it.

Not that facts ever stopped her from living in the moment, of course. A fast-approaching deadline didn’t stop her from cracking jokes and telling ridiculous stories just to see Serana smile. The constant threat of being attacked didn’t stop her from staring when Serana got onto a topic she liked and got more and more expressive every time Elay asked another question. Every laugh, every brush of Serana’s hand against her shoulder, and every tease that left Serana’s face looking like a tomato were worth the pain when it was over.

But neither of them mentioned the kiss. Some wounds weren’t meant to heal and exploring _that_ with less than a night’s travel left? She was a risk-taker, not a masochist.

Serana was a scientist to the core; it was as big of a part of her identity as Elayn’s mutation. The first time it came up was when she asked about the Garou, but old hurts died hard and her questions were cut off after Elayn’s rant. The second time was when she asked about some glowing plants along the road. Serana’s looked absolutely thrilled as she launched into a lecture. There were several words and concepts she had to stop and explain, but even though Elayn was confused, she never felt stupid. Serana’s happiness to have an audience was just an added bonus. When they got onto the subject of mutated people and the Garou, Elayn was enjoying herself too much to get upset.

“I think you know more about the Garou than me!” she said with a laugh. “Seriously, where is this stuff written down?”

“Family research,” Serana admitted proudly. “After my parents realized what was happening to us and that the radiation leaking into the vault had made us immune to what was outside, they sent people out to learn more about the world. A century and a half of gathering data adds up.”

She whistled, imagining the piles of papers. “I guess that’s gotta be a better source than what I’ve got. Mostly I’m running by trial and error.”

Serana hummed in agreement. “That’s still important, you know. Everyone’s experiences with life are different, and new information comes with unique experiences.”

That gave Elayn something to think about, and they walked in silence again. It would be dawn before too much longer, but according to the worn and faded signs they were passing, the estate was close. Ten minutes went by and a dark rectangle appeared in the distance. Elayn spotted it first and pointed it out to Serana, who nodded.

She got more closed-off  with every step that brought them closer to the iron fence surrounding the property. Worry lined her eyes and thinned her lips. When she had talked about her home and family before, it had been happy memories, but now her expression hinted at something else.

Serana stopped suddenly, ten feet from the gate, and grabbed Elayn’s arm to stop her too. “There’s a stash of caps at the bend in the creek east of here,” she said quickly. “But you need to leave here. Now.”

“What are you--?”

“Elayn, please.” Desperation broke into her voice. “You’ve obviously seen plenty of horrors, but I don’t want--”

“Hey, you!” A grizzled old man with a deeply face and golden eyes like Serana’s approached with a gun and a search lamp. “Get goin’; you’re not welcome here.”

Elayn took in a breath to snap back at him, but bit her tongue when Serana shot her a warning look and stepped into the light of the lamp. It lit up her face and the guard changed his tune fast, going from aggressive to grovelling in a heartbeat. “My apologies. I didn’t see you.”

He raised a radio to his face and shouted, “Lady Serana’s back! Open the gate.” More quietly he added, “She’s brought someone with her.”

The iron gate slid to the side and the guard ushered them through, bowing so low that Elayn was sure his nose was scraping the gravel road. As Serana walked past the gate and guard, she changed. It was both abrupt and subtle, but still glaringly obvious and a little disturbing. She stood taller, chin raised and back ramrod straight. Her eyes hardened and her jaw set, and she went from being the woman who had laughed and joked with Elayn to a woman who had no equal.

A Lady.

She got several yards ahead while Elayn worked to close her jaw and she had to run to catch up.

“Keep close to me,” she muttered, not once looking anywhere but ahead. “They know you’re here now, so you can’t just leave, but be careful and don’t start any fights.”

It wasn’t until they went inside that Elayn realized how hard that warning would be to follow.

\--------------

The first thing Elayn noticed was how _clean_ everything was. Her nose was always quick to pick things up and that had saved her life plenty in the past, but now she wished it wasn’t. The cleaner they were using burned like snorting Abraxo straight out of the box. It stunned her enough that she didn’t take in much else about her surroundings until she heard footsteps down the elegantly-furnished hallway. At the same time she felt Serana’s hand clamp down on her wrist. She looked down at the other woman’s hand and then back up at her face. That regal, unflinching look was still there but she swore there was something else. Not sure what it could mean but guard up anyway, she twitched her arm away. Serana jerked her hand back like she’d been burned. That stung a bit.

The footsteps got louder and stopped a moment before double-doors ahead flung wide to reveal a man as well-groomed as the room. He wore some kind of bright colored wrap that set off the golden tone of his skin and eyes, so much like Serana’s. Two women flanked him, heads bowed and shoulders slumped forward. They were definitely not dressed nicely, clad in patchy grey rags and wearing shoes that barely earned the name.

Apparently Serana’s family kept slaves. Elayn bit back the growl she could feel building in her chest. The Commonwealth might be lawless as the rest of the damn map but slaves were one of the few things she held a moral stance on besides kids. It was a point of principle that had gotten her chased out of the Mojave barely clinging to her life and freedom.

Still, now would be a very bad time to voice and opinion and she was getting real close to turning her back on all of this. Particularly the ghoul at her side who had hidden some pertinent goddamn information.

Clearly the gatekeeper had sent word on ahead to this guy because he was all welcoming gestures and excited faces. “Lady Serana! We have all been waiting for your return. Your father will be overjoyed to--”

“Thank you Vingalmo.” Serana cut him off with all the confidence of someone used to getting her way. “I need to speak with him soon. Is he in his office?”  
“No, my lady.” Vinny-- Elayn had no plans to be pleasant while she was in this hellhole and that definitely included insulting nicknames-- took on a mask of badly faked tragedy. Or maybe it was genuine and she was just biased. Either way he was still talking. “Lord Harkon has been in mourning ever since you and your mother went missing. I... do not see her with you, my lady.”

“No, she--” Shock rattled her Serana’s impeccable bitch-queen persona and for just a second she looked like the woman Elayn had been traveling with, enough to make sympathy stir in her chest.

Then it was gone again and she was the “Lady of the Estate” again. “I need to speak with my father,” she repeated, more forcefully.

“Of course, my lady.” Vinny bowed low enough that she swore his nose scraped the polish tile floor. When he came back up though, the sickening subservience made way for obvious and unsettling intent as his eyes set on Elayn. “And your guest?”

“She’ll be leaving now.”

Okay, sure. It wasn’t like Elayn really wanted to stay in this sterile house of horrors. Or be around the ghoul-- woman-- who was quickly becoming responsible for most of her personal crises for the past decade any longer than she needed to be. All the same, being dismissed with not even a backwards glance was _not_ the best way she could think to cap off this little adventure.

Thinking of caps…

“Fine by me,” she bit through gritted teeth. “I’ll be off as soon as I get my wage.”

Vinny didn’t look too impressed by her attitude, but being too pretentious to get direct, he passed up a chance at a cutting remark for disregarding her completely. “Very well, my lady. Will that be all?”

“Yes.”  
Serana kept eyes on the man until he and his entourage disappeared back down the hall and out of sight. Even then she didn’t look at Elayn while she tugged one of the pouches lining her belt open. “The amount we agreed on is a bit low for services rendered. This should cover it.”  
_Buying my forgiveness?_ Elayn wondered dryly as she took the caps and shoved them in some corner of her pack. Without another word she turned on her heel for the door, repeating to herself for the twentieth time that she was more than happy to be done with this place.

“Elayn.”  
No, she wasn’t. Not quite. Just that one word managed to shatter the stillness. She paused.

“I’m sorry.”

The prickling feeling behind her eyes was not tears. The sucking hollow in her chest wasn’t pain. She wanted to walk away-- walk away from this screwed-blue situation and never look back. Didn’t feel anything but outrage and disgust like she should. Didn’t feel hurt.

But denial never helped anyone and the woman behind her was the same one who dragged her someplace safe instead of putting a slug between her eyes like she probably should have. Weird family issues or not, it wasn’t her place to judge at that point.

“Yeah,” she said through a heavy sigh. “Me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter! Life is exhausting but hey here it is

Weeks pass after Elayn marches back into Diamond City, alone and flush with caps. Between her earnings from the caravan and being an escort/bodyguard, she had all she needed to do just about whatever she wanted. Normally that would be setting off on another thrilling adventure, but her life got strange the moment she set foot in the Commonwealth. Instead of leaving, she stuck around and rented a spare room in the bar for the foreseeable future.

If Teegan and Lucca were glad to see her stick around, Toby was over the moon. The kid attached himself to Elayn’s side the moment she came back to the city and getting him to detach was next to impossible. It hadn’t been an issue at first, but she would always be the fastest to admit she wasn’t a good role model. Being stuck in one place for a while was hard, and not having the drive to go in the first place was even worse. Long, boring nights turned booze-filled and when she was drunk, she got careless.

Teegan pointed it out one day while she hung around his temporary merchandise stall. “It’s been nice, Toby having you around, but it’s not good for you to be here girly.”

“You think?” Elayn’s gaze was trained on any potential troublemakers but he had her attention anyway.

“I do indeed.” He settled on a little stool. A decent guy, he didn’t look straight at her either. “When’s the last time you went to bed sober?”

Elayn thought about that, then brushed off the question with a snort. “Dunno. Is that important?”

“Four bottles of whiskey a night should be killing you by now.”

There wasn’t much she could say with that statement, but she shrugged anyway. “I guess.”  
Teegan went quiet. Then just as she was starting to hope the lecture was over, he was talking again.

“It’s not that I’m worried or anything--” His sidelong glance said that was bullshit. “-- but I’ve been hearing about some fights. Toby isn’t the only one who doesn’t want to see you getting hurt.”  
This heart-to-heart was the exact thing she _didn’t_ need right now and she let her irritation show. “Look Teegan, if you’re worried about the kid, keep him away from me. I’m fine enough on my own.”  
“That isn’t what I meant. Damn it Elayn!”

Teegan was an older guy with a deep voice rough from years on dusty roads. Hearing those last three words shouldn’t have hurt the way they did, but they  _ did _ . She felt a pang rip through her chest because she could hear someone else entirely saying it, and see clear in her mind golden eyes flashing with fond irritation.

It burned away the last of her patience and she shoved away from the wall before she could do something stupid. “Yeah, sure,” she muttered. “I’ll see you later Teegan.”  
Elayn stalked off, ignoring the sound of her name as the trader tried to call her back. She was too damn tired to hear the lectures of well-meaning friends. Maybe it was getting close to time for her to skip town. She could head west again, not the Mojave but definitely someplace warm. And far from people. That was key.

With or without her permission her feet took her back to her room. She dropped to the rusty, creaking mattress and reached for the open bottle, conveniently within easy reach. The alcohol burned her nerves numb and within a few swigs she could feel the knot of stress and dammed-up emotions ease in her chest. She kept drinking anyway. It was nearly sundown, she could sleep.

Or so she thought. The bottle wasn’t as full as she remember, or she was really developing a tolerance. By midnight she was staring up at dirty ceiling, stone-cold sober and thinking about breaking into a shop for something stronger. 

Before she could do that though, there was a knock at the door. Straining her ears let her hear labored breathing and a faint heartbeat, but not much else. Elayn shoved herself up and shuffled across the floor. She yanked it open sharply and barked out, “What?”

Then she got a look at her guest.

Raven hair so dark it shined, sharp golden eyes that haunted her fucking dreams, fair skin set off by blood-- oh, there was blood.

“I need help,” Serana was able to say, before collapsing forward against Elayn.

* * *

 

Sleep was something that rarely came easy to Serana. Even before the world was destroyed in a firestorm of nuclear explosions, when she was still the young naive woman who saw the future as nothing but bright. At the age of ten she had realized there were many more hours in the day than the waking ones and that she was wasting them in restless dreams. So instead, she decided she would dedicate that time to learning more about the world. 

One of her fondest memories was spending hours in her father’s lab as they worked together through the night. It was him that helped her figure out just how long and how often to sleep. Like any habit, it became second nature to forgo the call of sleep for weeks on end, aided by naps designed to maximize her time. Her family’s mutation only made avoiding the need easier and after a while she was even able to go without the inevitable crash of pushing herself too far too long. 

It was rare for Serana to actually fall asleep, and practically unheard of for her to do so without realizing it. Waking up with no memory of where she was should have made her feel uneasy but some niggling thought in the back of her mind told her that she was safe. There was little light here, wherever she was, and the air was still. 

That stillness broke as she heard the swing of a rusted door opening to her right, something she could pinpoint even with her eyes shut. She heard soft whispers just shy of audible, a few words exchanged before the door was shut again and quiet footsteps padded across the room toward her. There was a slight thud just by her head, like someone setting something on a nightstand. Serana half expected whoever was there to try and rouse her, but after a few moments of more silence she heard them sigh.

“Trouble-making ghouls.” The husky, lilting voice was teasing, but there was a brittle thread running underneath the surface. “Just when I thought things couldn’t get more interesting, you show up again.”

There was something more to those words, she could hear that plainly. It was echoed in another, heavier sigh as the woman the woman settled against something. As much as Serana wanted to slide back into sleep and escape the clamoring complaints of her body reporting more than a few injuries, she felt a burst of renewed strength and blinked open heavy eyes. It took a few moments for the fog to clear her vision but the sight greeting her once she did was worth it; Elayn leaning back in a simple wooden chair, head tipped back against the wall and tilted away so the curve of her neck and jaw was even more apparent than usual. She could just make out the rest of her features, mostly slack but tension still turned her mouth down and drew her eyebrows together.

“In my defense, I was in Diamond City first.” 

Her voice croaked horribly but she knew Elayn heard her when the woman bolted upright and nearly fell off the chair. She looked so shocked that Serana felt a little bad, but not enough to keep her from chuckling. It turned out to be a mistake when her ribs and throat protested the action violently and she winced. 

Elayn was by her side in an instant, one arm sliding behind her shoulders to prop her up while she handed Serana a mug of something clear with the other. “Drink first, mock later.” 

That was an order she was happy to follow. It was a struggle not to just down the contents but years of studying every bit of physiology she could, including medicine, left her painfully aware of what a bad idea that would be. She took careful, measured sips and reached around Elayn to set the water back on the nightstand still half full.

The other woman gave her a disapproving look but chose not to press it. Instead she helped Serana sit up against the wall behind her before moving back to her own chair. Elayn looked like she had a hundred different questions already, but instead of demanding answers she chose to wait in patient silence, gazing off into space. 

It gave Serana a chance to really look at her, and what she saw had her worried. Some of the tension was gone now that she was awake, but not all of it. There were shadows under her eyes and a tightness in her expression, things that were ill-fitting on a woman used to carefree smiles. The last few weeks had been hard on her, and while Serana knew it was ridiculous to think it had anything to do with her, she still felt guilty. 

“I didn’t mean for things to go like that.” The words slipped out before she could hold them back. 

Elayn’s sudden, sharp inhale made her wish she had, and the pause hung between them like some deadly creature while she waited with bated breath to hear the accusations and insults she expected.

But they never came.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said instead, shaking her head slowly. “Honestly I should have known better. I just don’t understand why you came back.”

That last bit was said softly enough that Serana might not have heard it out in the marketplace, but in the quiet room it seemed to echo like a shotgun blast. The guilt came rushing back tenfold, making her chest ache in a way that had nothing to do with the bruises she knew littered her torso. 

“I need your help.” The words tasted like bile especially now, but there was no choice. “My father… he’s gone insane.”

Elayn’s eyes snapped open, jaw working fitfully. Her hands tensed into claws and gripped at her knees. A few deep breaths got her back under control though there was little she could do to hide her outrage. “Is that why you’re hurt?” 

Flashes of angry, snarling dogs with bared teeth chasing her down made her heart stutter. Despite her lack of reply, her face must have told the other woman everything she needed to know. She blew out a frustrated breath and shot to her feet. Pacing back and forth, she looked deep in thought, and furious.

“What happened?” she bit out in a low growl.

Elayn’s anger on her behalf lifted the sinking pit leaving had left in her chest. Serana still felt terrible, but she drew strength from the support. At the very least she could explain her side of things, even if it failed to fix things between them. 

“I told you about my family, our history since the war.” At Elayn’s nod of confirmation, she continued. “But I didn’t tell you how I ended up in Diamond City.”

The other woman nodded again, hesitant. “I figured it had something to do with your mom.”

Serana took a deep breath as she tried to gather the facts and stories, and to pull together the scraps of coherency she could feel starting to slip away. “If I tell you this,” she whispered, unable to make her voice any louder. “I need you to try and understand.”

When Elayn finally looked at her again, it was with an appraising look. She deliberated in silence that stretched into an eternity while Serana waited even if it was only a few moments. Whatever conclusion she came to she kept to herself, but she still sat again.

“I’m listening.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What, did you think I'd actually do a chapter without both of them?
> 
> Credit to my wonderful girlfriend for painting a portrait of Elayn and Serana for me this Christmas!


End file.
